Endless Bad Apple!
by Wolf no naku koro ni
Summary: When Endless Witch Bernkastel saves Kid from Medusa, she demands residence with Soul and Maka as a reward. She's not as ego-maniacal because of her infinite power, but is Maka still willing to trust her? Another Keshen is rising, and Bernkastel is willing to fight. However, there seems to be a special connection between the witch and the Keshen that prevents her from doing so.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Soul Eater or any other anime referred to in this fanfiction.**

It had been twenty-four hours since Death the Kid mysteriously disappeared. His father, friends, and two weapon partners Liz and Patti were all at their wit's end trying to find him, constantly drawing a blank. Maka, Soul, Blackstar, Tsubaki, Liz, Patti, Stein, and Spirit were all regrouped in the Death Room after the third search.

"No sign of him anywhere," Maka said. "We checked the forest and every town within walking distance of Death City."

"Yeah," Liz agreed. "And Patti and I found every symmetrical place we could find. He's not anywhere."

"You honestly think he ran away?" a seductive voice leered behind them. They all turned around in surprise to reveal Medusa's slim figure glowing in the mirror's reflection. "You are all much stupider than I thought."

"Medusa," Maka growled.

"Didn't we kill this witch, I don't know, twice already?!" Soul grumbled.

"What do you want?" Lord Death demanded.

"Just wanted to let you know," the blonde witch began nonchalantly. "That if you ever want to see Death the Kid again—" the others stiffened "—you'll hand all control over the DWMA to me."

"Where is he?!" Liz barked sharply.

"He's a little busy right now," Medusa explained with a wink of her golden snake-like eye. To confirm her statement, a distinct scream echoed from the background.

"Kid!"

"Like I said," Medusa said. "Give me the DWMA or else you will never see your precious Kid again. You have three days, Reaper. If I don't hear from you by then, my snakes will feast on the blood of your child. It's your choice."

The glass became fuzzy before going dark completely.

Kid's Savior; Will Bernkastel Get Her Reward?

"Might as well get this over with," Medusa thought on the second night.

She turned to her prey that was helplessly lying in the corner. His clothes were torn and bloody, revealing glimpses of severe and infected stab wounds and such. He tried to raise himself on his hands and knees, but buckled to the ground once more. Despite the pain, deep down, he was happy. He was thankful that his father didn't give up the school just for him. However, he was also sad that he wouldn't get to see his friends or his partners again.

"Any last words before you die?" Medusa's sharp voice cut into his soul like a knife.

"I told you so," Kid whispered faintly. Medusa gritted her teeth and turned to her snakes.

"Feed," she commanded.

The collection of serpents lunged forward immediately, viciously biting and wrapping around Kid's body. The young reaper whimpered, but accepted his fate with little struggle. It was pointless; no one knew where they were and no one could hear his blood-curling screams. Medusa watched with a straight face as the boy writhed on the ground. She hadn't lost, but she hadn't won, either. She'd played her most valuable card to no avail.

Meanwhile, outside of the small stone building, a dark figure was hovering in front of the laughing crescent moon. It was a witch, watching everything play out beneath her. She aimed her broomstick at the ground, sailing at an alarming speed towards the house. She broke in through one of the windows, startling Medusa.

"Oh, it's just a little girl," Medusa seethed, regaining composure. She motioned towards one of her snakes, who lashed out at the mysterious newcomer. The other witch gave a wave of her hand, and the serpent was sliced in half. "What's this? Willing to fight your own kind, witch?"

The witch raised her head; her blue bangs pulled back to unsheathe her teal eyes. She raised her hand and clenched her fist violently. Medusa collapsed in a pool of her own blood, gripping a gaping hole in her chest.

"The Endless Witch, huh?" she choked before she went limp. Her body dissolved in black bands, leaving her violet soul for the taking. The snakes coiled in pain; through their link with Medusa, they had received the same blow. The blue-haired girl turned to Kid's limp body, debating.

"If I save him," she thought. "Maybe… just maybe…."

Without further consideration, she lifted his body onto her broomstick and floated out the window again.

Soul Eater

After hours of flight, the witch landed gently in a small glade by a stream. Laying Kid down, she put her ear up against his chest, listening to his faint heart being strangled by Medusa's venom. The witch straightened, putting both of her hands over his chest. A teal light emanated from under her palms, enveloping the two of them in an orb of light. Woodland animals from nearby peeked at them from the cover of the trees, curiously wondering what could cause such supernatural brightness.

The light retracted and dissolved, leaving Kid's skin without a scratch. His clothes were mended and clean as well. His breathing was fuller, steadier, and after a few seconds, he opened his eyes.

"Are you a witch?" he whispered.

"I'm a good witch," the other explained. Her voice was low and dreary. "I am Bernkastel."

As his mind became clearer, he took in every inch of the strange witch's appearance. Her skirt was perfectly folded on either side, the black over dress of her Gothic Lolita attire was perfectly divided, and her blue bow-tie was balanced on the left and right. Her teal eyes, though hard to tell, were perfectly in proportion with each other, her blue hair was at a perfect length on either side of her face, and her hat— Kid stopped dead in his admiring. He sat bolt upright, squinting angrily at her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Your hat is not symmetrical!" he cried. "The tip folds to the left and not the right! It should fold either backwards or forwards, or better yet, not at all!"

Bernkastel began laughing. "You're so cute when you tell me I'm not symmetrical. What's with the stripes in your hair then? There are three stripes on the left and none on the right."

"You're right! I'm garbage! A-symmetrical garbage! No wonder my father chose the Academy over me! How could he love me?!"

"Kid, you've got problems," Bernkastel said, rubbing his back soothingly. "It's okay now."

"Why would you say something like that?" he asked. "Nothing is symmetrical out here."

"Well, you're alive now," the child replied. "So we can fly to someplace symmetrical."

"You'd really do that for me?" he sniffled.

"Of course; I can go anywhere I want to," she continued with a sly grin.

"Alright, then in that case," Kid said, rising to his feet. "I wish to go home, to the Death Weapon Meister Academy."

"No problem," Bernkastel said, getting on her broomstick. "Come on. And Kid, please don't try to make my broom symmetrical when we're flying."

"No problem," Kid replied.

"No, I mean it. If you try to clip even one bristle, I will tie you up and confiscate your cutting utensil."

"I have no choice," Lord Death said. "I have to turn the DWMA over to Medusa."

"What?!" Liz gasped. She, Patti, Stein, and Spirit were all gathered in the Death Room.

"Lord Death, Spirit, and I talked it over," Professor Stein explained. "We agreed that the DWMA can be won back over time, but Kid can't. This is our final decision. Do you understand?"

They nodded, somewhat enthusiastically, but still defeated. Kid would be returned to them, but the school would be lost and Medusa would have finally won. Stein felt an intense energy wash over the area; it was a witch's soul in close range of the school, possibly Medusa or one of her messengers.

"A witch," Stein growled.

Spirit and Patti transformed, and Lord Death, Stein, and Liz ran out of the Death Room. The maze-like hallways were no hindrance to them; they found their way out the front doors in time to see a witch flying on her broomstick over the DWMA. She drifted through the barrier effortlessly, and the Meisters raised their weapons threateningly. When she got closer to them, they were able to see Kid leaning on her shoulder, unconscious.

"Kid!" Liz cried.

Stein rushed forward, unarmed, and took Kid from the witch when she touched to the ground.

"I got a little lost, so he fell asleep," Bernkastel explained, putting her broom up over her shoulder. Interpreting Stein's example as a sign that the stranger wasn't a threat, the others rushed forward as well.

"Is he okay?" Patti demanded, transforming again.

"That's strange; there's not a scratch on his body," Stein said, looking back up at the witch.

"His wounds were easy to heal," Bernkastel said nonchalantly. "Medusa isn't very creative. Speaking of which, here," she handed Lord Death a small satchel containing Medusa's soul. "You won't have to worry about her anymore."

"I can't believe this…. What's the catch?" Stein asked.

"What do you mean? There is no catch."

"No catch?" Stein asked, stunned. He relaxed once more and began turning the screw in his head. "Interesting…."

"You bring my son back," Lord Death said. "You heal his wounds; you destroy the witch that has caused us such trouble, but how do we know this isn't part of Medusa's plan?"

"No, wait," Kid whispered, opening his golden eyes tiredly. "It's not…"

"Kid," the others said at once.

"Father, it's not… a trap… believe me," he said. "She saved me."

"Well, if my son tells me it's true, then I believe it," Lord Death said, turning back to Bernkastel.

"You're called Bernkastel?" Stein asked.

The young witch nodded.

"You would really do all of this selflessly? Without expecting a reward of any kind?"

"I originally just did this for the fun of it," she admitted. "Having endless power can only be so entertaining. But now that you mention it, I guess I would like something in return."

"Like what?" Stein inquired.

"Well, I assure you, I don't want this school," she said, receiving a sigh from the group. "Never how symmetrical it may be; it belongs to you."

"Ah, I see you've caught on with Kid's compulsive behavior regarding symmetry," Lord Death said. It was strange; just a few minutes ago, they were prepared to fight, but now the witch seemed to be their best friend. When they looked back at Bernkastel, she had her back to them. She stared unfathomably out at the dark night, shifting her gaze up at the bloody moon.

"I'd like to stay here," she said finally. Her voice was softer than before. She turned back at them with a smile on her face. "Let's call it a favor for now," she said. "But I think I want to stay here for a while, and I could use a room for the night?"

"No problem, sweetheart," Lord Death chirped, his usual cheerful self again.

"Yay!" Patti chanted. "Yay!"

"Well, since I don't have to cut her in half," Spirit said, reforming to his human form again. "She's the cutest thing I've ever seen!"

Before he could touch her, Lord Death slammed his hand against Spirit's skull, in his famous "Reaper Chop."

"You have your own daughter to fawn over, you perverse idiot," Lord Death growled.

"Well, I guess you're staying with us tonight," Liz sighed.

"I wonder how Maka will feel about all of this," Stein thought, turning his head to look at the faded violet sky. "Trusting a witch, and, for the sake of being curious, a witch saving Kid. It's all so intriguing."

**Just to let you know, this is not an Umineko/Soul Eater crossover. My OC just has the name and similar appearance to Bernkastel. So, how did you like it? The future chapters will be better, I promise. Please leave me a review telling me what you think, if I got anything wrong, and/or ideas for future chapters. Thank you for reading!**

** For those of you who got here from my YouTube fanfiction trailer, thank you for checking me out here! :D Nipaa!**


	2. Chapter 2

Bernkastel awoke the next morning in a soft bed in the guest bedroom. She stretched languidly, floating out of bed and over to the mirror. She snapped her fingers, folding the edges of the comforters with her magic. A hairbrush appeared out of nowhere and floated over to her tangled blue locks. With another wave of her hand, she was fully dressed from her lopsided hat to her white socks. She walked out of her room and down the hallway, glancing into Kid's bedroom. He was sound asleep, whilst his two partners slept at the foot of his bed. Bernkastel smiled to herself and made her way to the kitchen quietly.

Kid, Liz, and Patti awoke half an hour later, each getting ready for the day and then going downstairs for breakfast. Kid paused, a little surprised when he saw Bernkastel surrounded by floating objects. The witch glanced at him and waved. The dishes went into the sink and the food was served at the set table.

"You made breakfast for us?" Kid asked.

"Yay! Waffles!" Patti cheered, sitting down immediately.

"That smells good, Bernkastel," Liz agreed, taking a seat next to her sister.

"I thought it would be nice to cook breakfast for you since you let me stay here," Bernkastel explained, smiling her still, soft Cheshire-cat grin.

"Bernkastel, please," Kid sighed. "Stop it. We have enough debt to pay off."

"I have a feeling," she said, winking slyly. Her blue hair twitched as if it was alive. "That your father has it all figured out."

Kid blinked, confused, but Bernkastel only laughed.

New Lodgings; Will Maka Trust A Witch?

"I told you to get some sleep, Maka," Soul told his Meister as they ascended the concrete steps of the DWMA. He was concerned for Maka; she hadn't slept, she wasn't eating. It was clear she was really worried about Kid.

"Hey, Soul," Blackstar greeted quietly. "What's up with Maka? She looks kind of… scary today."

"I know," Soul said. "She hasn't gotten any sleep. Just don't tell her we have that test today."

"It's alright," Tsubaki tried to cheer her friend up. "I'm sure he'll come back."

"What if he doesn't?" Maka whispered. "Lord Death can't just give up the school."

"There you four are," Kid greeted them. Liz and Patti followed behind him casually. "I was beginning to think you were all skipping. Quite out of character for Maka; I was really worried."

The others were frozen in place, trying to make sense of what they were seeing. Kid was here, unharmed, and making jokes about Maka skipping school? What the heck happened? Maka didn't care; she ran forward and wrapped her arms around Kid in a bone-crushing hug.

"What happened?" Soul asked, stepping closer to Kid as well.

"Did Lord Death really give up the academy?!" Maka demanded instantly, pulling away.

"In short, Medusa is dead now," Kid said, smiling reassuringly. "Come on, we should get to class. Did you study for the important test we have today?"

Maka stopped in her tracks. "No… I completely forgot. I was so worried about you that I didn't think about the test."

It was a good thing that Maka had practically memorized the entire textbook; she had little trouble on the test. Afterwards, she pulled a book out of her bag to pass the free time. Her eyes lingered over the words, not really reading them. She tried making sense of the events that had happened in the past week. Kid disappeared on Monday, Medusa contacted them on Tuesday, and now, on Friday, Medusa was dead and Kid was home without a scratch? It just seemed too good to be true.

Maka was going to dig deeper, but stopped short when she felt an intense energy within the core of the school. She inhaled sharply and looked up from her book; she recognized the energy as a witch's soul. It could have been Medusa, but this soul was much more powerful than anything Maka had ever felt before. She didn't realize that she was trembling with fear.

"Maka, Soul, Lord Death would like to see you in the Death Room," Professor Stein said suddenly. He gave Maka a meaningful look. "You've been excused from class."

"What does he want to see us for?" Soul thought. He glanced at Maka, who nodded to Stein. They clearly knew more than Soul did in regards to their soul-seeing abilities.

In the Death Room, Lord Death was talking with Bernkastel.

"I have an idea. Since you want to stay here so badly, how about I make arrangements for you to stay with Maka Albarn and her weapon partner Soul? I think it will be interesting for you."

Bernkastel lowered her head in a single nod, giggling quietly.

Soul and Maka walked into the room and tensed when they saw Lord Death having tea with a girl. She couldn't have been older than them, and, by her appearance, their first thought was that she was a witch. She looked at them with unnaturally teal eyes. Her blue hair framing her child-like face rippled once, like the ears of an animal tweaking at a sudden sound.

"Ah, Soul, Maka, glad you're here," Lord Death greeted them with a spontaneous wave. "Will you join us?"

"Um… okay?" Maka replied uncertainly, kneeling by the table. Soul silently followed her example, eyeing the witch suspiciously.

"So, I guess you've seen that Kid is back safe and sound? Did he tell you anything else?"

"He told us that Medusa was dead," Soul said. "So, what did you want to see us for?"

"This is the Endless Witch Bernkastel," Lord Death introduced them. "She'll be staying with you from now on."

"Seriously?" Maka gasped. "Uh, Lord Death, are you sure you thought this out right?"

"I'm positive," he answered. "Didn't Kid tell you that after saving his life and killing Medusa, Bernkastel healed his wounds and brought him home safely? In return, she wants to stay in Death City."

"Yeah, but why does she have to stay with us?" Soul asked. "Can't she live with Kid or something?"

"She saved Kid?" Maka thought, observing the witch. Beyond the black and white Gothic Lolita dress and blue bowtie, the witch's soul burned brightly. "She doesn't have the same dark energy as most witches, but she seems so much more powerful. I wonder if Lord Death is just testing us."

"Her soul wavelength feels much stronger than any other witch I've encountered," Maka noted, ignoring her partner momentarily. She wasn't worried about offending Bernkastel because the girl didn't seem to be paying attention to them.

"That's because she is an Endless Witch, very powerful," Lord Death explained.

"Well, now I know why I can't say no," Maka and Soul thought in unison.

"But if this troubles you too much, I'd understand," the Grim Reaper continued.

"Oh, no, not at all, Lord Death!" Maka said at once, shaking her head. Beside her, Soul put his palm against his forehead.

"Well then, I'll leave you three to it, then, I hope you get settled together."

Before they could argue, they were out in the hallway again.

"I'm Maka," the meister said, putting her hand forward. "This is Soul."

"Hi," she replied, waving. It was clear that she didn't want to shake hands yet.

"So, you're an Endless witch?" Soul asked. "That's cool."

"We have an hour of class left," Maka said. "You can stay in the library until then. We'll come get you after class, okay?"

"Okay, Maka," Bernkastel said, nodding her head and walking in the general direction of the library.

"I have a strange feeling about this, Soul," Maka admitted once the witch was out of hearing range. "Why would Lord Death trust a witch?"

"Well, I think she deserves it," Soul said. "Maka, she saved Kid's life and took Medusa's soul. I don't think Lord Death wants to be on her bad side. For now, let's just go with it."

Soul Eater

After class, Maka and Soul went to the library, but couldn't find Bernkastel.

"She's in Stein's office," the librarian told them without as much as a glance. The two nodded and turned to leave. Maka grasped at the possibility that Stein was confronting the witch, but found it unlikely anyway. Soul wasn't concerned at all. However, when they reached Stein's office, Bernkastel was sitting on the bed, Stein kneeling at her feet.

"Let me see," the professor said, taking her ankle.

"What happened?" Maka asked uncertainly, taking in the sight.

"She fell down in the library. It looks like she broke her ankle," Stein glanced up at them.

"I'm fine, really," Bernkastel argued, trying to get up.

"You should really stay off your feet until it heals," Maka cautioned. Soul bit his tongue to keep from laughing. Even though Maka was skeptical, she did care about the witch.

Bernkastel laughed through her teeth, making Maka look up. The witch raised her hand, and a binding of teal light, the bones in her ankle knitted together again; the blue and black bruises faded away, as if it was a documented time lapse of the healing process.

"I forgot how fragile my human body can be," she said as she got to her feet.

"Lord Death told us you could control life and death, but I never thought he meant it literally," Maka said, staring at Bernkastel's ankle.

"She can do more than just mend injuries, didn't Lord Death tell you?" Stein asked, turning the screw in his head.

"He said she was an Endless Witch," Maka replied. "But I'm not quite sure what it means. She had a lot of power, correct?"

"Anything she imagines can become real."

"Cool," Soul breathed.

"So, this is our apartment," Maka said as she opened the front door. She showed the witch in, followed by Soul. She glanced at the purple cat sitting on the couch. "That's Blair; she lives with us, for some reason."

"Morning, Maka," the cat yawned, stretching.

"It's about time you got up," Soul muttered. "It's almost four. We're back from school already."

"Who's this?" Blair looked at the witch and transformed in a cloud of mauve smoke. "A witch?"

"Bernkastel," Maka said. "She'll be staying here for a while."

"Aren't you old-fashioned," Blair noted with a grin. "I'm glad you'll be staying here; it will be nice having some company around. It's so boring when I'm all alone here."

"She's not your new plaything, Blair," Soul chided.

"Aw, Soul," Blair meowed. "You treat me like a child. Would you like to have some fun with me?"

"No! Leave me alone, you stupid cat!" he stuttered, running up the stairs.

"Oh, come back, my little scythe-boy!" Blair cried, bounding after him.

"There's a free bedroom at the end of the hall," Maka told Bernkastel. "You can make yourself at home. I have to make dinner."

Bernkastel nodded and went up the stairs. Maka was a little tenser than Bernkastel had anticipated; it would take an extra mile to get her to trust a witch. Soul wasn't as tense as Maka, but he still held some dislike for witches. Bernkastel didn't blame them at all; they had had such bad experiences with witches, so it was natural for them to have a chip on their shoulder. Bernkastel sighed.

"Broom, take a note," she commanded. The broom stood upright and a feather quill and parchment floated around it as if it had invisible arms. It scrawled the words on the paper as Bernkastel spoke them. "Dear Kanon, after saving the Grim Reaper's son, Death the Kid, I have been offered lodgings in Death City, Nevada. I've already made some friends, so I think I will stay here for a while. I hope you can find me, wherever you are. Your bad apple, Bernkastel."

**Yay! Nother chapter! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Just so you know, the name Kanon did come from Umineko no Naku Koro ni, but it's just a reference. I'm not going to make this a crossover, I'm just taking a lot of character names and development from Umineko/ Higurashi. I think I put some mysteries in this chapter, and all will be answered soon, I promise! Stay classy and read on, my minions!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Soul! I can't believe you're living with a witch!" Blackstar was screaming the next day at school.

"Jeez, keep it down, Blackstar," Soul grumbled. "What about it?"

"So you did take her," Kid said. "I knew that my father would guilt trip you and make you think it was a test, but I never thought you'd actually do it."

"Are you saying we made a bad decision?" Maka asked, glancing up from her book.

"Absolutely not," Kid replied smoothly. "Bernkastel is an interesting creature; she doesn't really want things that will cause chaos."

"You sound like you know her well," Soul said.

"Hardly," Kid admitted. "But she should be easy to get along with if you just try."

"What should I do?" Maka asked. "She hasn't actually burned the house down yet, and she seems less outgoing and distracting than Blair. Do you think I've been… scaling her out?"

"Definitely, Maka," Soul said. "I mean, seriously, have a heart. She's not that bad. Even I had a problem with her at first, but you, on the other hand—"

"Chop!" Maka snapped, slamming her book against Soul's head. Soul whimpered, putting his face on the desk.

"What was that for, Maka?"

"I wasn't asking that to be insulted," Maka replied. "Now, Kid, did you want to say something?"

"Nothing, Maka," Kid sighed. He hoped she wasn't missing the point.

Bernkastel's Wings; Witch or Weapon?

"Bernkastel," Maka said. "Soul and I have a mission out of town tonight, so um… don't… we'll be back later."

"Do they go on life-threatening missions every day?" Bernkastel asked Blair whilst taking a sip of her apple cider.

"Until one of them gets hurt," Blair sighed, nodding. "What do you want to do tonight?"

"Let's make things A-symmetrical," she suggested.

"I sense the Keshen nearby," Maka told her scythe partner. "Let's go, Soul."

She stalked gracefully over the rooftops until she came to a cleared square. The moonlight glanced off of a tall figure, a mutated Keshen consuming a human's soul. The being raised its head and turned around. Maka could see now that it wasn't a Keshen, but a witch.

"A witch?" she thought. "Keshen witch?"

"From the darkness, ruin the light, I summon thee, demons of night," the witch chanted, raising either of her hands. Shadows appeared out of nowhere, their dark red eyes shining with malice and hate.

"A Keshen witch, huh?" Soul's appearance reflected off of his blade. "Should be a rare and delicious soul."

Soul's confidence brought Maka out of her deliberating. She lunged at the shadows, swinging the scythe across in a firm line. The shadows evaporated in clouds of black mist. The ugly witch stared at them with her black eyes.

"Witch Matilda," Maka said. "Through your evil deeds, you have become a Keshen. You must be stopped; I'm going to take your soul!"

Their reflection shone in the mirror of the Death Room. Lord Death and Bernkastel watched the battle with curious eyes.

"They won't survive," Bernkastel said. Lord Death glanced at her.

"Do you think you can handle it?"

"Yes," she replied. "I'd be a terrible person if I let them die like that."

The witch skillfully dodged all of Maka's attacks. She threw in spells every now and then, but Maka either blocked or dodged. Maka and Soul began to resonate to conjure up their Witch Hunter attack, but the witch countered it by using a strange shield. Maka was reflected back against a wall and Soul spun out of her grip. He transformed into human form and collapsed on the street.

"Soul!" Maka cried, running towards him. Blood poured from a severe wound on his chest

"Ronove," Matilda spoke to the shield. "Katana mode."

"Right," Ronove responded. In a glow of light, the shield became a sword.

"A witch's weapon?" Maka thought. "This is bad. Soul and I can't fight this alone."

"Say your last words, Meister Maka Albarn," the witch snarled, stalking towards her with the blade in her hand.

"Maka," Soul whispered. "Run."

"No, Soul, I can't leave you here!" Maka's gaze shifted in fear to the advancing witch. The witch raised her blade and Maka curled her body protectively around Soul's. The witch looked up at the sky, surprised to see Bernkastel on her broom, floating to the ground to meet them.

"Endless Witch," Matilda crooned. "Come to save your friends?"

"Shut up," she growled. Her blue hair shaded her face, giving her an even darker appearance. A teal light flashed behind her, unsheathing two strange, weapon-like wings crafted from daggers dangling from two poles*. She lunged forward, stabbing the witch with the weapons. Maka, who was still halfway over Soul's body, watched in confusion.

"She's a weapon?"

"Are you hurt?" Bernkastel asked the other two.

"Soul," Maka remembered, pulling away from him. "His pulse is getting weaker. Bernkastel, can you—"

"Maka, close your eyes," she replied. Maka inhaled sharply, but did as she was told. She could feel the warmth of light dangerously close to her, but then it was over. When Maka opened her eyes again, Soul was regaining consciousness.

"Soul," she whispered. She looked up at Bernkastel. "How did you?"

"That's not important right now," Bernkastel said. "You should report to Lord Death. I'm sure he would have never let a student handle this if he'd of known it was a witch."

"Right," Maka said, getting to her feet. She held her hand out for Soul, who took it gratefully.

"I didn't know you were a weapon," he noticed.

"There are a lot of things about me that you don't know," Bernkastel said quickly.

Soul Eater

"A Keshen Witch?" Lord Death asked. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Maka replied.

"I'm sorry to get you two into trouble, but I knew you could handle it."

"Are you kidding?" Soul asked. "If it weren't for Bernkastel, I would totally be dead right now."

"Maka!" Spirit cried, suddenly appearing in the reflection. "I just heard about what happened and I was so worried! Are you alright?!"

"Yeah, fine," Maka mumbled. "You should be thanking Bernkastel for that."

"Bernkastel," Spirit said. "Thank you. I am eternally in your debt."

"Let's just call it a favor," the witch replied smoothly.

"If you don't mind," Lord Death grumbled, shoving Spirit out of his way. "Is there anything else you wish to report to me?"

"There is one thing…" Maka thought about it. "The witch had a weapon with her. Is that… normal?"

"Not since the creation of the academy," Lord Death replied. "But yes, weapons were originally created for witches' use. They called them 'furniture'**"

"Furniture, huh?" Soul asked. "That's pathetic. Don't think I'd like getting in the hands of a witch."

"So, I'm glad that you're getting settled alright," Kid said. Maka, Soul, Bernkastel, Blackstar, and Tsubaki had all gathered at Kid's mansion for a small get-together. They were all seated symmetrically in the den, eating pizza.

"Dude, you can't be serious," Blackstar told Soul. "How could someone as small as her outshine a big star like me?"

"She's one hell of a witch, alright," Maka said, smiling. "I'm glad. At first, I didn't think we could trust you."

"I'm not as ego-maniacal as most witches," Bernkastel explained, smiling back at her. The others laughed at her nonchalance. "When you have all this power, the thing I worry about most is being bored."

"Well, I'm sure things will be interesting for you from now on," Liz said. Patti giggled in agreement.

"Indeed, I've never actually had any friends; my past is actually quite boring in itself for that fact." Bernkastel opened her eyes to see everyone staring expectantly at her. "What?"

"Nothing," Tsubaki replied. "It's just… you're such a curious person. You have your own way of looking at things."

"I am curious about that past of yours, for the record," Soul said, leaning back. "You have to tell me sometime. I think it'll be cool."

"I think we all need to know that," Maka agreed.

Bernkastel laughed. "For what it's worth, why? But then again… why not?" She laughed again and circled her finger around the rim of her glass. With a metallic echo, it filled to the brim with hard apple cider. Bernkastel threw the drink down and sighed. "So, tell me about yourselves instead. I'd like to know anything interesting."

"How do we know that you won't use it all against us?" Blackstar asked. No one could tell if he was serious.

"When I speak in red, I'm telling the truth," Bernkastel said. The others didn't know quite what she meant until she began speaking again. The room gained a red tint and floating red captions played her words back. _"I will only use this information against you whilst playing punishment games."_

The words evaporated and the room retained normal color once again. Bernkastel laughed and got to her feet.

"I'll get some more cider," she said. Although she could just use her magic to fill her cup, she knew they might need some time alone.

Whilst they thought over how to tell her everything in a way that can't be used against them, Bernkastel looked around the mansion. She came to a room with several musical instruments in it, including a violin and a grand piano. She couldn't help it; she wandered into the room, which was dimly illuminated by the setting sun, and stood by the piano. She let her fingers graze against the ivory keys curiously, then more assuredly. She took a seat on the bench and began to play a tune she had heard sung to her a long time ago.

"She's been gone a long time," Maka noted after a few minutes.

"Maybe she found something interesting," Soul suggested. "You know how distracted she always is."

"Well, then, let's go find her," Kid sighed, getting to his feet. When they got to the second floor, they heard beautiful music. Kid smiled. "She found the music room."

They all wandered into the large room to watch her play. The notes were all so perfectly measured, every piece captivating, mystifying visions seemed to fill their heads as they heard her song. It was a mysterious, beautiful, slightly creepy song, like a witch's lullaby. The final soprano notes danced from Bernkastel's fingers, and she turned to her audience. Her eyes found Soul, who blushed and looked away.

** That's the end of this chapter! Hoorah! I have a lot of Umineko references, like I had a lot of Higurashi references in my Fruits Basket fanfiction. So, I'm going to have the Special Umineko Reference of the Chapter! Yeah! Today's reference is 'Furniture.' In Umineko, people with weapon properties were called furniture and used by witches to battle and such. It's not quite the same thing, but I thought I could twist it in there. I also put in the "When I speak in red, I'm not lying" thing too. So many references.**

** *Her wings look like Flander Scarlet's wings from Touhou Project.**

** **Yes, that was an Umineko reference, just the name.**

** The song that I imagine her playing is the AS version of "Why or Why Not" by Katashiri Rekka, from the Higurashi soundtrack. :D**


	4. Chapter 4

"Not going to school today?" Bernkastel asked Maka over breakfast the next Saturday.

"No, it's a Saturday," Maka replied, taking a sip of her coffee. "We have Saturday and Sunday off. Haven't you ever been to school?"

"When you have all this power, you don't need to know anything," Bernkastel replied arrogantly.

"Right," Soul said sarcastically. "Anyway, we're going to meet the others at the basketball court for a game. Do you want to come?"

"Basketball?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

"She really doesn't know anything, does she?" Soul and Maka thought, each giving her their own look of questioning horror.

The Punishment Game; Retrieve Excalibur, You Can't Be Serious?

"Okay, the rules are simple," Soul explained once they were at the court. "Do you think you understand?"

Bernkastel nodded her head, her lively blue hair floating exuberantly about her child-like face. Her enchanted hair seemed to be the only thing immediately lively about her. Did her endless power give her such disinterest?

"Don't try to out shine me, witch girl," Blackstar threatened. "And no magic."

"I think it would be reasonable if magic wasn't allowed," Maka agreed. The others nodded. In response, Bernkastel laughed and held up her right hand. The court became blood red and captions began floating around the group.

_"I will not use any ability I have as a witch at an upper hand,"_ she swore.

"We got it; can you please stop using that creepy font all the time?" Liz shuddered.

"How about we play the punishment game afterwards?" Blackstar grinned devilishly, looking at the pathetic witch that clearly had no idea what she was doing there.

The game proceeded as follows. At first, Bernkastel watched from outside of the group, observing every move carefully. Once she became more confident in herself, she was an invincible machine. No matter how hard Blackstar and Soul played, Bernkastel was always faster and stronger. Her thin body was light and swift, and with the right leverage, her arms could shoot a basket perfectly from any corner. She could also block quite well.

"It's weird, I've never even played this before," she said. She was only rubbing it in their faces. "And anyway," she shot another perfect basket, "that's thirty. It's over, right?"

"Yep; it's all over," Soul sighed. "Try harder next time, Blackstar."

Blackstar was about to take his anger out on Soul by coming up with a short retaliation, but Bernkastel cleared her throat.

"Punishment game time," she hissed. A red glint shone in her eyes and her hair trembled like a million writhing snakes. "I want you to go retrieve the holy sword Excalibur."

"What?"

"Excalibur?"

"Are you crazy?!"

"It's a punishment game, you have to do it," she said, still smiling.

"She has a point," Soul said.

Soul Eater

"Provision number 365, you must always praise Excalibur," the sword was saying as they approached Maka and Soul's apartment. Liz was listening to music, Maka had her ears covered, and Blackstar was just trying not to kill anything.

"Hey, Bernkastel!" he yelled up the stairs. "Your punishment game is here! You'd better like him."

Bernkastel appeared at the top of the stairs and took in the short white being. She inhaled sharply, and for a second, the others thought she would scream. In two flashes of teal smoke, she apparated from the top of the stairs to the foot of the stairs, kneeling in front of Excalibur and hugging him furiously.

"Penguin-thingy!" she cried with delight.

"Fool! I demand that you put me down this instant!"

5 Minutes Later

"I'm positive it was a Monday, but it could have been a Wednesday, although Sunday sounds about right…."

"He's boring, take him back," Bernkastel said dismissively, taking a sip of her cider.

"What?!"

"Unless you'd rather he stay here…."

"NO!"

"Didn't think so."

Sunday

"Maka," Bernkastel began awkwardly. Maka looked up from her book curiously. The four of them were seated around the breakfast table, eating French toast and bacon.

"What is it, Bernkastel?" she asked. Bernkastel fiddled with her dress, as if she was a guilty child.

"I'm going out today and I won't be back until late, so I don't want you to worry."

"Oh… alright. Thank you for telling me," Maka didn't turn back to her book. "May I ask where you're going?"

"No you can't," Bernkastel snarled sharply. The reply was so unexpected that Maka jumped back. Soul and Blair looked up as well, concerned. Bernkastel pushed away from the table and stalked towards the door.

"I'm sorry," Maka apologized quietly. She really shouldn't have been expressing regret, but she didn't want Bernkastel to be livid and God-knows-where all day.

"I'm going to…" Bernkastel gritted her teeth. She couldn't tell them. "I'm going now."

She opened the door slowly and walked away. A strand of her long, tentacle-like hair brushed at a tear at the corner of her left eye.

"This is why we witches are…" the witch at the head of the chapel paused in her sermon. "It looks like we have an Endless Witch in our midst. Teal Endless Witch Bernkastel, will you please come forward?"

The blue witch stepped forth from the shadows, holding her broom at her side. The crowd of worshipping witches gasped at the sight of her; it wasn't often that they saw the legendary creature. They dare not shorten her title or scoff at her excessive youth. She could kill any of them without lifting a finger.

"I haven't come here to worship with you," Bernkastel warned. Her voice was cold but smooth, like a vicious cat's growl. "I came to warn you." She turned to the front witch. "I don't want another Keshen witch to set forth a threat against me. Am I understood?"

"We can't help it if the darkness takes over," a warlock from the back row said, his tone marred by a deep accent. "Whether it be Black Blood or Madness, we can't withhold from it. Even you can't hide from your own darkness forever, witch."

"All you need to defeat darkness is a little light," Bernkastel made her curt reply.

"What are you? The witch of hope?" He was definitely mocking her now.

Bernkastel waved her hand in warning. The warlock flinched and crawled beneath one of the pews. She sighed, turning to the front witch once again.

"There's one more thing I want…."

"He's not here, Bernkastel," the front witch replied. "You should be safe."

"I have what I came for," she said, turning around, refusing to admit the disappointment she felt. She glanced at the rows of witches and warlocks once more. "The word from all of you… lesser witches… that I will not be disappointed again."

The crowd shuddered; they were all tense under the eyes of the omnipotent witch. Bernkastel made her leave and walked down the cobblestone alleyways. If Maka knew all that Bernkastel was, she would try to take her soul in a heartbeat. However, it must be a good thing that Bernkastel's soul can't be claimed that easily.

** Pause! Author Time! Imma listening to Bad Apple by Kasane Teto! It's about to get SRS BSNSS in the fanfictions! Yay! Oh, by the way, just so you all know, Bernkastel did throw the basketball game. Instead of using her magic to create an upper hand for herself, she created a lower hand for the others. They were playing it as if everyone had their own team. Please leave me a review and keep reading! :DDDDD**


	5. Chapter 5

"So, Maka," Soul said to his Meister. Maka glanced up from her book in acknowledgement, not really interested. "You know that Keshen we killed a while back? The witch?"

Maka looked up for real this time. Her olive eyes searched partner. He was leaning back casually with his feet up on the desk. "What about it?"

"I hear they found another one," he continued. "Only this one is stronger. Sounds like someone in the next class over got messed up pretty bad."

"So?" Maka pressed. "What are you saying?"

"The Keshen is rising, and it's way more powerful than the others. I hear the teachers are going to pick out their best students to train to fight against it."

"That's… insane," Maka said, facing her book once more.

"We'll be training outside with the other classes today," Stein said monotonously, wheeling into the classroom on his swivel chair. His face was deadly serious as he shifted his gaze among the students. "I suppose you all know about the Keshen attack last night?"

New Keshen; Rise of Madness or Worse?

"This Keshen doesn't have a past with Lord Death like Asura," Stein was explaining. The students formed loose groups around the schoolyard. "This is still a Pre-Keshen, but it has power against the Academy. You won't have to fight a war like the last time, but we need you all to know how to fight against it until we track it down. I've brought a trusted witch to help us train today. Bernkastel, please step forward."

The black and white-clad girl treaded out of the shadows, summoning gasps and murmurs from several people in her audience. She shifted her gaze along the arc of students and staff taciturnly.

"A witch-Keshen threatening enough that we'd need her?" Blackstar thought with distain.

"This must be worse than Soul let on," Maka said. "Who are we going up against exactly?"

"If you get hurt, she can heal your wounds with ease, so don't hold back when in combat," Stein continued. "I want you to separate into the groups you were set into last year and practice defensive tactics. If anybody gets injured, come straight to me. After that, we'll be going into more detailed skills."

The groups dispersed as they had been assigned.

"It feels a lot like last year, huh Patti?" Liz asked her sister as they transformed.

"I worry for the students," Stein was telling Bernkastel, who was sitting in the grass beside him. "I don't want them to feel as if it's a serious as last year."

"Is it?" Bernkastel inquired, matching his monotonous tone.

Stein looked at her from the corner of his eye. "We don't know that yet."

"Well, since I am the highest witch, I have a right to know everything you've figured out," Bernkastel slid her gaze to the corner of her eye as well.

"Last time I trusted a witch within the DWMA, it ended in trouble," Stein said. "But you're not like that… are you?" His tone was that of confirmation, not curiosity.

"Of course," she replied, turning her head and staring at him with her deep teal eyes.

"A pair of third-year students from Half-moon Class went on a mission," Stein began. "Only… they didn't come back. They were making their way back when another pre-Keshen—the witch—interfered. Lord Death and Spirit were watching from the Mirror, and immediately went to help them. When they got there, the students were almost dead. The Keshen was about to finish them off, but when it saw Lord Death coming, it fled."

"That's what drives most witches to become Keshens," Bernkastel said, turning to look back at the dueling students.

"What's that?"

"The fear of dying," Bernkastel whispered. "Based on what I know of the witches in that area, I think I can figure out who it is—this will help us analyze our risk and gain. Was there anything prominent about the witch? Color, attire?"

"They didn't see it," Stein replied, putting his head on his arms in defeat.

"That's unfortunate," Bernkastel said. She focused more intently on the Meisters and Weapons. "I've never had much practice with my Seals," she thought out loud.

"Seals?" Stein turned his head curiously.

"Wings made of iron and shards," she replied. "An official 'seal' of an Endless Witch. If my power is suspended, this may be the only upper hand I have."

"Interesting," Stein mumbled, turning the screw in his temple. "Do you want to keep your training sessions private?"

Bernkastel deliberated before breaking into a grin. "No, after all you've told me, you deserve some of my personal information."

"Then in that case, you can train with Maka and Soul in a little while. In the meantime, tell me about your powers being suspended."

"There's a complex 'Hold' spell," she said. "It can deter our magical abilities with correlation to the caster's strength. There used to be a game I played when I was a child called 'Grace;' it's similar to when humans play chicken."

"I was too busy dissecting organs to play such frivolous competitions," Stein countered obstinately. Bernkastel laughed darkly, her hair dancing in an unnaturally lively way. It caught Stein's eye. "I'd much like to inspect a lock of your hair, Bernkastel, if that's okay."

"No—"

"Stein, stop scaring the little girl," a blonde female chided jokingly, stepping behind them.

"Oh, hello Marie," Stein greeted. Bernkastel got to her feet and turned to see Marie and Crona behind them, possibly doing rounds to check progress. "Bernkastel, this is Marie and student Meister Crona. Crona, Marie, this is Endless Witch Bernkastel."

"Ah, yes," Marie greeted, putting her hand forward. "You're the witch I've heard so much about. I'm Miss Marie; if you need anything, just let me know, okay?"

"Okay…" Bernkastel breathed, tentatively shaking hands. Despite her haughty attitude, she was a shy greeter.

"Unless you're lost," Stein added. Marie laughed with him. Bernkastel shifted her gaze to Crona and gasped. Crona stiffened uncomfortably as he did around most people, especially witches.

"Crona, what's wrong?" Marie asked.

"Ragnarok…" Bernkastel whispered, almost too quietly for the others to hear her. "Come… show yourself."

As if responding to her near-silent command, the small, ink-black creature tore out of Crona's back. "Another witch? Aren't we done trusting those—"

"Not that it's any of your business, Ragnarok," Stein interrupted. "But Bernkastel is a sane Endless Witch."

"As if that makes her sane!" the pathetic weapon squeaked. "Endless Witches are impossibly darker than the others. Just because they aren't power-hungry doesn't mean the darkness within them is dormant."

"Another word, Ragnarok, and I will use 'Inner' to haunt your nightmares."

"Please don't," Crona whispered, cringing. Bernkastel laughed.

"You're so cute when you're innocent," she muttered, looking away.

"We should go check the other groups," Marie said, taking Crona by the arm and leading him away.

Behind Bernkastel, the students gathered at Stein's command.

"Maka, Soul, Bernkastel would like to train with you using her Infinite Seals."

"Okay," Maka said, slightly nervous.

"The rest of you, I want you to watch them. If this Keshen has similar weapons, you need to be familiar with how they work."

Bernkastel cringed; she wasn't used to being around other people, and it felt weird having everyone watching her all at once like that. Nevertheless, she stepped towards Maka, pausing a few feet away. Her body was at an oddly defensive-threatening angle. In a flash of teal light, two bent iron rods holding shards of metal were protruding from the witch's back. The students steeled in excitement.

"You ready Soul?" Maka asked.

"Heck, yeah," Soul replied.

Maka drew the scythe in front of her and charged at her opponent. Bernkastel crossed her seals in front of her like a barrier and ran to meet Maka. They collided with a metal crashing sound. Bernkastel shifted one of her seals, narrowly missing Maka's face. Maka skillfully deflected her and poised herself for another attack. Bernkastel took the blow with grace, twisting and flipping in the air until she could lightly touch her feet to the ground. She grinned and took her turn, charging at Maka with her weapons poised for attack.

As the fight continued, Maka and Soul made mental notes. Bernkastel's seals were wings; flexible and aerodynamic. Her fighting style was basic, clearly premature. After a few more turns, Bernkastel's eyes began to glow supernaturally. A teal aura engulfed her and her seals vanished in a cloud of teal ashes. Holographic teal swords* appeared on either of her arms. She didn't seem to know what she was doing, but when she lunged forward, Maka wasn't ready.

"Stop it!" Crona cried, jumping inn between them. He had a black sword, Ragnarok, in his hands. He lifted the sword up defensively; Bernkastel's swords disintegrated at its touch and she snapped out of her trance. She collapsed to the cold, inviting ground, unconscious.

"Bernkastel!" Maka called.

The witch awoke sometime later in Stein's office. Maka, Soul, Blackstar, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, Patti, and Crona were surrounding her bed, tense with apprehension. She sat up uncertainly.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We'd rather ask you the same thing," Soul said, sighing and crossing his arms. "Your seals disappeared. You became a different weapon."

"Of course," Bernkastel gasped. "The Furniture."

"The what?" Blackstar asked.

"The witch's weapons?" Maka didn't say this out loud, for fear of disturbing something within Bernkastel.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," Crona said, lowering his head. "I'm very sorry."

"It doesn't matter," she assured him. "You were only protecting your friends. Besides, I shouldn't have attacked you like that; you clearly weren't ready."

"Why is it that when she apologizes, it still sounds like she's insulting me?" Maka thought, the corner of her mouth twitching with annoyance. She looked up as Professor Stein entered the room.

"Bernkastel, Lord Death would like to speak with you," he said, not making eye contact with the others.

"He'd like to see me?" she asked. "Is he mad at me for nearly killing three of his students?"

Stein started laughing. "I don't think you need to worry about that; it's actually quite common when training."

"Of course it is," Bernkastel thought, getting to her feet.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, it's about your weapons," Lord Death said. He'd made sure that he and Bernkastel were the only ones in the room to ensure complete privacy.

"From what you know, you're not talking about my seals," Bernkastel stated. Lord Death nodded.

"Do you know why you became Furniture?" his tone became serious.

Bernkastel deliberated. It could possibly mean that this Keshen was looking for enchanted furniture, but that would also mean that it could be a previous… acquaintance of hers. She wasn't positive, so she figured she didn't technically have to share. The Death Room became quiet and soaked in red as Bernkastel replied. Captions dictated her speech.

_"No."_

***Her 'holographic swords' look like Kanon's weapons in Umineko. **

** Today's special Higurashi/Umineko reference is… going to be replaced by a special Squid Girl reference! Yay! Bernkastel's hair can move with speed, power, and agility like Squid Girl's tentacles. I just think it would be more interesting this way. Besides…**

**This. Is. Fanfiction!**

**Madness…**

**Sparta? xP**


	6. Chapter 6

"Absolutely perfect," Kid said, admiring the symmetry of his living room. He had just finished shifting a portrait back in place whilst Liz and Patti lounged on either of the couches.

"Kid, you've checked the same painting twice," Liz said. "Is something wrong?"

"Aren't you tired from all the training at school?" Patti agreed, slouching over the arm of the other sofa tiredly.

"I want it to be perfect all the time," Kid insisted. In truth, he was trying to distract himself from the rapidly occurring darkness within the school. The thing with the Keshen was really getting to him. "I'm going to check the portrait in the hallway."

Witch's Tears: Am I Undone?

Halfway up the stairs, he heard beautiful music floating amongst the second floor. He grinned and went out of his way to the music room. The teal-haired witch was seated at the piano, playing a new piece. The tune was slower, broken; melancholy compared to the other songs she played. Kid sat down quietly beside her.

"I thought you'd come here," he said. "It's been so hectic lately, and you never seem to unwind."

Bernkastel stopped playing, and Kid turned to her curiously. Crystalline tears fell onto the ivory keys as the girl sniffled. Kid frantically wrapped his arms around her; he wasn't prepared for comforting her.

"Please don't cry," he said. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's not you," she whispered. "It's just…" she began sobbing. "There's so much that I'm not telling you, and all of it hurts. It hurts like you wouldn't believe!"

"Shh," he murmured, rubbing soothing figure-eights on her back. "It's okay. Is this why you wanted to be alone?"

Bernkastel nodded.

"Listen to me, Bernkastel," Kid said, pulling away. "It doesn't matter if you're a witch or not. No matter what happens, we are your friends and we're here for you."

Bernkastel bit her lip to keep from crying harder. The pain in her soul gave a violent jolt and she whimpered, clutching at her chest. Kid put a hand over hers and drew her closer. She leaned into him and he laughed gently.

"It's alright. Come on, it's about dinner time. Would you like to help me?"

Bernkastel nodded, eager to distract herself. She walked downstairs and into the kitchen, immediately rooting around in the drawers and cabinets for food.

"I guess you're taking over," Kid said with a grin. She paused to nod at him before reaching into the refrigerator for thawed steak. Kid watched from the doorway, trying to fathom what she was trying to cook. She picked at the vegetables and such, bringing out potatoes, carrots, onions, and beef broth. She put a pot on the stove to slow-cook the steaks in the broth.

"Oh, are you making pot roast?" Kid asked. "Would you mind if I helped?"

Bernkastel waved him over and handed him a knife and cutting board. She had a cutting board of her own to cut the other half of the vegetables. Kid couldn't help but admire her respect for his obsessive compulsive disorder. He began cutting whatever she gave him into precisely one-inch pieces, oblivious to Bernkastel rolling her eyes behind him.

"Um… mushrooms?" Kid wondered out loud as Bernkastel piled the said vegetable next to his cutting board. "I didn't know mushrooms went in pot roast."

Bernkastel put a large bottle of teriyaki sauce beside the mushrooms and nodded seriously. She moved to her own cutting board and began chopping onions. Kid looked back at the pile of mushrooms. Wait… if there were this many mushrooms, the delicate balance had to be maintained by carrots. There must be an equal amount of carrots… but there weren't very many carrots.

"Where did you even get these?" Kid asked her irately. Bernkastel paused for a second, shrugged, and continued cutting. She held her palm out, and a mushroom grew from a veil of teal sparks.

"Really, Bernkastel?" he asked. "How many mushrooms do you need for a single pot roast?"

Bernkastel raised her head, setting her knife down and counting off of her fingers. After losing count, she shrugged again and snapped her fingers. Her knife began floating on its own, chopping onions into perfectly symmetrical wedges. Kid sighed.

"Well, I see you have this all taken care of," he said, turning out into the hallway. "Ish… I'm going to tell Liz and Patti that they don't need to worry about dinner."

Bernkastel nodded superficially, pouring teriyaki sauce over the steaks. Kid walked to the living room.

"Girls, Bernkastel's making dinner," he announced.

"Seriously, Kid?" Liz asked. "You made her cook for us?"

"She wanted something to distract herself. Besides," he dropped his head. "She's cooking at her own will. The amount of mushrooms that she's using and amount of carrots is totally out of balance. She's lucky I don't correct her."

"That's amazing, Kid," Liz said dismissively, turning back to filing her nails.

"I'm going to call Maka," Kid sighed, putting his hand against his forehead. "She's probably worried. You two have no appreciation for symmetry."

Soul Eater

"Soul! Soul! I can't find her anywhere!" Blackstar yelled in panic.

"This is really bad!" Soul said, banging his head on the door frame. "If Maka knows that I lost her, she'd be so mad!"

"What are you boys up to now?" Tsubaki asked, walking into the apartment through the front door with Maka. They had gone out for a little girl time earlier and were just returning.

"What would I be mad about?" Maka asked. The two boys froze. "Where's Bernkastel?"

"Uh… nowhere…."

"Soul?" Maka growled dangerously.

"Yeah?"

"You lost her, didn't you?"

.

.

.

"You idiot! You were supposed to be watching her! Where is she now?"

"How the heck am I supposed to know that?" Soul demanded. "I'm the one who lost her!"

"This is terrible!" Maka sobbed, thinking of the worst that could have happened to the witch girl. She collapsed against the wall. "She could have gone after the Keshen by herself or worse! What if she never comes back? AND IT'LL BE ALL MY FAULT!"

"There, there, Maka," Tsubaki soothed, rubbing her friend's back. "I'm sure she's around here somewhere. Blackstar, where is the last place you saw her?"

"Uh… last Saturday at the basketball court," Blackstar replied.

"Blackstar!"

The telephone began to ring and Maka reached up from her spot on the floor to answer it.

"Hello? Lord Death?" she rejoined. "I'm a failure. I lost Bernkastel."

"Maka? What are you talking about?" Death the Kid asked. "She's over here."

"She's what? Kid, that's wonderful!" Maka cried, leaping to her feet.

"Why don't you come over? We're about to have dinner."

"What's this? You also made her dinner?" Maka gasped quietly, tearing up slightly.

"Eh… sort of," Kid muttered, glancing around the corner to see Bernkastel dumping more mushrooms into the pot than science would physically allow.

"Alright, we'll be right over," Maka said. She was completely calm now. "Thank you so much, Kid." She hung up and turned to the others. "Good news; Bernkastel is over at Kid's place and we're all invited over for dinner."

"Oh, that's good," Tsubaki sighed.

"And Soul," Maka said.

"What?" Soul asked calmly, thinking he was safe. Maka slammed a book down on his cranium.

"YOU JERK!"

"I never knew you could cook like this, Bernkastel," Soul complimented as they ate dinner.

"Soul, you know she does half of the cooking at home," Maka whined.

"Oh, does she?"

"Of course I do," Bernkastel said.

"I always thought you were using your magic to make those incredibly delicious meals," Soul concluded. Bernkastel blushed an impossibly deep red.

"You really think so?" she whispered.

"Uh-huh," Soul said. "So, what's for dessert?"

"D-dessert?" she stuttered, blushing deeper. She sank under the table, trying to disappear.

"Oh, that's alright, Bernkastel," Tsubaki said. "We don't need dessert."

"I did make dessert," she squeaked from under the table.

"You did?" Kid asked.

"What did you make?" Soul asked. A pathetically tiny cake levitated to the center of the table. It couldn't have fed more than one person. "Um… are you serious?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Bernkastel whispered.

"Can't you make it bigger?" Blackstar asked. "I mean, you are a witch and all."

Bernkastel sighed, sitting up and putting her head on the table. She wiggled her nose and the cake grew ten times its original size. Blue and black frosting decorated the rims of the cake in a Gothic Lolita design that almost matched Bernkastel's attire. The others admired her work.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Tsubaki asked. Her face became confused as Bernkastel got to her feet and left the room. Hesitantly, the weapon followed her out to the balcony. "Bernkastel, what's wrong?"

"I haven't done that in a while," Bernkastel admitted. "I miss something that I can't get back. Have you ever felt this way, Tsubaki?"

The demon sword thought back to the time that she had to kill her own brother.

"My brother became a Keshen," Tsubaki told her, leaning against the railing of the balcony and looking out at the dusty silver moon. "I had to kill him with my own hands. I didn't want to, but I didn't lose that much. I lost a brother, but… he wasn't my brother anymore."

"You humans are hard to understand," Bernkastel sighed. "But I'm glad you're here. Do you want to go inside and eat some enchanted cake?"

"Sure," Tsubaki said, following her back inside. "By the way, what's in it?"

"Mushrooms and virgin alcohol," Bernkastel replied.

"Um… ew?" Tsubaki thought.


	7. Chapter 7

"I wonder what's really going on," Maka told Soul after the third day of training. She and her friends had been training late that day; the sun was setting behind the academy. "Shouldn't they have found the Keshen by now?"

"It's undetectable," Soul said. "Sneaky monster. Based on how we've been training the last few days, I think this Keshen just might be more than what they've been telling us."

"Think about it, Soul," Maka said. "When Bernkastel saved us, she killed the witch without breaking a sweat; she didn't need her magic. If she needs to train with her wings, then…."

"Are you saying the Keshen could be made from an Endless Witch?" Soul gasped.

Maka was about to nod, but she froze in place, her eyes widening in fear and pain. She threw her head back and screamed, collapsing to her knees.

"Maka!" Soul yelled, kneeling beside her. "What's the matter with you?"

"I've never… felt such strength… from a soul wavelength… like this… before…" Maka whispered, trembling. She put her head down. "Soul, it's coming."

Endless Keshen; Can Bernkastel Stop Him?

"Maka! Maka!" the others cried, running towards her.

"Maka, what's wrong?" Stein asked. Maka got somberly to her feet.

"Soul," she summoned. Her partner nodded and transformed into a black and red scythe. "The Keshen is coming. I think it was created from an Endless Witch."

Stein nodded. "I feel it too. If you don't want to fight, you should get out now."

"Tsubaki," Blackstar said.

"Come on, Liz, Patti," Kid said, holding his hands out. The sisters nodded and transformed. Stein grinned at them.

"Does anyone know where Bernkastel is?" Maka asked slowly, not facing them.

"She's speaking with Lord Death and Spirit," Stein answered. "They should be joining us shortly."

The distant footfalls of a running Keshen were heard through the deathly silent night. They drew closer and closer. The others tensed, preparing themselves for clash. Maka stole a glance at Blackstar, who nodded to her, and then at Kid.

"Soul's about to play. You ready?" Maka asked. Their wavelengths began expanding, reaching out to one another in a way that they had strived to perfect last year. They knew that they would need it for this battle. The footfalls faltered, and a scream echoed through the darkness, followed by a heavy drafting sound. They saw two long iron seals carry a body over one of the rooftops.

The Keshen landed on all fours in front of them, a dead body hanging from his mouth. He was actually smaller than most Keshens; he was still human size. He turned his head up sharply, glaring at them with piercing red eyes. He got to his feet, wiping the blood from the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand and grinning psychotically. With a wave of his hand, a strong spell cut through the group. Maka turned her shoulders, charging at him as the first erratic notes of Soul's piece floated through the air. The Keshen deflected her attack, throwing her to the side. His wings moved at a rapid pace to shield a collection of bullets fired at him. He bent backwards at an impossible angle to avoid getting cut in half.

"There's just no hitting this guy, is there?" Blackstar demanded.

"Focus, Blackstar," Maka said. "If we regroup, we can probably—!" She stopped running as the Keshen turned to her. She drew up short; his soul wavelength had changed.

"His soul looks," she thought. "Human… and sad…."

"Maka, move!" Soul yelled. Maka snapped out of her trance and fell to the ground just before one of the Keshen's seals reached out to stab her. The wing retracted and the Keshen took to the sky.

"My soul hurts you," he said in a smooth, insane voice. "Doesn't it?"

"Shut up," she growled, regaining her footing. She lunged forward, and Soul's blade reformed into the Technicolor tool for their Keshen Hunter attack. Tsubaki transformed into an Enchanted sword, and Liz and Patti began forming a Death Canon.

Bernkastel ran out to the schoolyard and froze. Her teal eyes widened as she took in the Endless Keshen. Her wings burst out of her back and she tore across the sky; she pushed Maka to the ground. Maka inhaled, trying to recover from the unexpected blow, surprised that Bernkastel would attack her like that.

"Bernkastel!?" she demanded. Her allies paused in their attacks as well.

"Stay out of this, Maka," Bernkastel snarled, shooting into the sky again. She crossed her wings, attacking the Keshen. He mirrored her, and together, they created a symmetrical dance out of their fight.

"I'm surprised to see your face here," the Keshen growled.

"I guess I'm just sporadic like that," Bernkastel retorted, casting a destruction spell in his direction. "Why are you doing this? I thought you were dead and you just show up as a Pre-Keshen?!"

The Keshen froze, his eyes softening momentarily as he allowed the spell to hit him. He wavered in the air for a second.

"Dead?" he demanded. "DEAD? You abandoned me and you have the nerve to lie to me, saying you thought I was dead?!"

He lunged at her, pushing her down onto the roof of the DWMA. Her head hung over the edge, and he put one of his seals under her chin.

"Are you afraid?"

"Of what? I'm best friends with Death," she replied.

"Liar!" he threw her off the roof. She turned in the air and shot towards the sky. He followed heatedly.

"You're afraid," she said as they crossed blades again. "Aren't you?"

"I'm not," he lied. His eyes held conflicting emotions; fear, pain, anger. "You will not kill me. I want to live… forever."

Bernkastel pulled away and composed a silver stake out of nothing. With a teal flash, the weapon shot forward and stabbed through his stomach. He whimpered in pain, crossing his seals in front of him. The witch lunged at him, clashing her wings with his sharply. Bernkastel put one of her hands on their crossed seals, steadying herself as she reached her other hand over the iron wings to touch the boy's face. His red eyes melted from hosting anger to holding fear.

"I don't want to die," he whispered, tears pouring down the sides of his face. "Sis… I don't want to die."

"Kanon," she sighed.

Kanon's seals evaporated in red flecks and he went limp in Bernkastel's arms. A bright teal, red, and blue light emanated from the pair as they were reunited once again. Bernkastel carried the unconscious witch with care to the stone ground and set him down.

Lord Death, Maka, Blackstar, Kid, with their weapons, ran towards the two, but Bernkastel stepped in front of Kanon's body and put her arms out defensively. The others hesitated, and she raised her head.

"If you lay a finger on him, I swear I'll kill you," she snarled. Maka gritted her teeth. Was she betraying them after all? Bernkastel straightened and lifted the Keshen in her arms. He was so scrawny that his weight was nothing for her. She began to walk calmly towards the school, pausing to exchange a meaningful look with Lord Death. She continued walking inside until she reached Stein's office, where she laid Kanon on the bed. She turned to the others, who had followed her.

"You can't kill him," she said. Lord Death was surprised; she'd never shown signs of weakness or fear towards anybody; she just wasn't that kind of person. "Please, Lord Death! If you need a soul to atone for the sins committed, by all means, take mine!" She inhaled sharply as a crystalline tear slid down her face. She lowered her head in submission. "Not his."

The god of death reached his hand forward, and Bernkastel became rigid. He put his hand on her head gently, comfortingly; the witch looked up in hopeless confusion.

"I owe you," he said. The others stared at him with their mouths agape.

"Seriously?" Maka demanded.

"Since you saved Kid's life, I am willing to give this Keshen a chance. If he can be reformed, I won't kill him. However, if he can't, I will turn the responsibility over to you. I think you can handle that."

Bernkastel exhaled and nodded, sinking to her knees in relief. Her face became serious and she raised her head.

"I have… a lot to explain to you," she said.

** What does she want to tell them? Hm… maybe Soul can finally find out about that mysterious past of hers, you think? The end of this chapter! Yay! Stay tuned/subscribed/all else to keep reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

"Where do I begin?" Bernkastel thought out loud. The others had moved about the room to orient around her and Kanon.

"Start with why you defended this guy," Blackstar ordered, crossing his arms.

The room became a bloody red, signaling that Bernkastel was telling the truth.

"Kanon is my older twin brother and Equal Furniture."

Endless Twins; Kanon's Reformation

It took a moment for that to sink in.

"Of course," Kid thought. "Was that why she was so upset?"

"They were… partners?" Maka realized. "I wonder how hard it would have been for Soul if I became a Keshen."

"A long time ago," Bernkastel continued. "Kanon and I fought against the only other Endless Witch, so that we may have attained her power. Using Kanon's weapon form, we were able to defeat her, but something went wrong. We were separated. I thought that the final blow destroyed Kanon, so I tried to move on as best as I could…."

"Like we believe that," Spirit interrupted. "Why didn't you revive him?"

The red in the room evaporated; a stress mark appeared on Bernkastel's forehead.

"Interrupt me again and I will drive a stake through your brain," she warned. She opened her eyes and the red resumed once more. "I couldn't revive Kanon for personal reasons. The entire reason he became a Keshen is because he's afraid of death; if I brought him back from that, he would have become a Keshen a lot sooner. However, it seems that Kanon was alive and thought that I had taken the power from the witch and abandoned him. From fear of death and pain of abandonment, he became a Keshen."

"Whilst rising, he tried to change his rank," Bernkastel kept speaking smoothly. Her gaze flickered among the others, searching for any traces of disbelief or confusion. "Kanon and I are what is called an Equal Pair. Instead of treating the weapon like a servant, we treated each other as equally as Meisters and Weapons at this Academy. Since Kanon thought I had degraded him, he tried to summon me as his weapon and not his Meister. That's what happened that day when we were training."

"Why didn't you say so when it happened?" Stein asked. The room retained normal color as another stress mark twitched on Bernkastel's head.

"You're interrupting again," she growled. "If you knew the Keshen was my brother, you wouldn't have let me live it down. Besides," she opened her eyes again, making the room become red. "I wasn't even sure it was Kanon. I'd been searching the witch chapels and conducting censuses to find the missing witch. It makes sense since Kanon was the only one I couldn't track."

"There's just one thing I don't understand," Maka said. The room lost its unnatural color.

"Do you wish to say something, Maka?" Bernkastel demanded, an iron stake appearing in midair from a cloud of teal ashes.

"You say you were separated a long time ago," Maka clarified. "There's a gap between then and when he became a Keshen. Where was he all that time?"

"Only he can tell you that," Bernkastel said, turning to look at her sleeping brother.

"Uh, I have a question," Soul said.

"WHAT?"

"How do you know all this stuff? I doubt you spent the entire fight catching up with each other."

"Are you serious? That's the stupidest question I've ever heard! Our minds link when we resonate; we're not that different from normal Meisters and Weapons."

"Whoa, Bernkastel, chill out. And besides, I don't know what you're talking about. Our soul wavelengths will sync with each other, but we can't explore each other's minds in the middle of battle."

"I'd understand if you weren't up to having an almost-pre-Keshen in your small apartment." Kid stated. "Maybe Bernkastel and Kanon could stay with us for a while?"

"How could you say that?!" Bernkastel flamed, lunging forward and stabbing the stake into his forehead.

"Ah! It's A-symmetrical. You stabbed me with A-symmetrical garbage!"

"You may be a child, but you still have the word Death in your name! Stein!" she turned on her heels. "Get the *ABK48* away from him."

"I was just looking."

"It doesn't matter!"

"And I was curious about this scar on his neck…."

Although Bernkastel was worried about her brother attaining a scar that she had never seen, she was still defensive. "That's not your business, now leave!"

"But it's my office," he complained, wheeling submissively out to the hallway.

"Well, then," Lord Death said, waving as he left the room. "I'll leave the reformation up to you when he wakes up."

"You won't have to worry about that," Bernkastel said. The Grim Reaper glanced back at her. "It's already started."

Soul Eater

"Kanon," Bernkastel whispered to her brother as she laid him down on her bed. "We're home now."

"Sis?" he whispered, opening his red eyes. He sat upright in a jolt, pulling away from Bernkastel. He squirmed as far away from her as he possibly could. "They're here! They've come to kill me!"

"It'll be okay," she told him. "Just tell me what happened."

"They… they tried to kill me before… before you came in. You tried to help them, didn't you?!"

"Why were they trying to kill you?" she asked.

"I… Sis, I didn't mean to, I swear!" he looked at her with pleading eyes, clutching the collar of her dress. Bernkastel continued to gaze at him stoically, unmoved by his helplessness. Kanon released her and pulled away in horror. He curled up, putting his hands over his head as if to shield himself.

"Kanon," she spoke; he flinched at her cold voice.

"I killed… someone," his speech was shaky and broken. His mind was disturbed. "You left me behind… and someone else… took me. They all hurt me—there were so many of them. No one was there anymore, I was hurt and I was alone…. I hear your voice. It tells me… 'Find a way to not be hurt anymore…'"

Bernkastel gave a nod. She remembered a time when they were children and she told him to be positive; to find a place where he could rest.

"I figured…" the pre-Keshen laughed uneasily. "When you lose your mind… nothing hurts anymore. I was wrong," he doubled over, wrapping his arms around himself. "It hurts like you wouldn't believe."

"Kanon," Bernkastel said softly, her voice more childish and friendly than before. "It's okay; you don't have to feel that pain any longer. Just come back to me. It's okay to be scared as long as you don't leave your little sisters behind to fend for themselves."

Kanon gasped quietly as the first hint of hope entered his features.

"Are you okay now?"

Kanon's face softened; his blood red eyes melted away into a deep cobalt blue. He looked up at Bernkastel and nodded. He reached out tentatively, gradually wrapping his arms around her and bringing her close to him in a tight embrace. Bernkastel hugged him back; it was good to have her brother back after all these years. She would have to look into the people that hurt him later, but in the meantime, she wanted to talk to Tsubaki about the success of the conversion.

** So, was it… good enough for you? ;D I know I have some scattered things around the place right now, but I swear I have it all under control. Please keep reading and watch out for the next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9

"Bout time you two got here," Blackstar greeted as Soul and Maka made their way across the court.

"Hi, Soul, Maka," Tsubaki greeted.

"Where's the witch?" Liz asked.

"She's staying home with Kanon today," Maka replied with a smile. "So, what are we playing today?"

"Basketball, duh," Blackstar said. Maka stiffened.

"I'm not that good at playing that game…."

"And since Bernkastel's not here, how about we play the punishment game?" Blackstar continued.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Soul agreed, slapping Blackstar's hand in a victorious high-five.

"Hey, sis, look at that!" Patti squealed, pointing. The others glanced in her direction to see Bernkastel flying up to them on her broom.

"Oh, Bernkastel," Kid greeted. "Did you decide to come along after all?"

Bernkastel pointed over her shoulder, where her brother was standing. He had his head down, as if he was afraid, but he also held a protective aura around Bernkastel. The others gasped at his presence. Kanon's dark blue old fashioned coat rippled slightly as he glanced up at them.

"Kanon," Maka thought.

"I…" he whispered. "I…. I want to be a part of your group."

Twin Resonance; Will Kanon Become A Part of the Group?

.

.

.

?

"Oh, Kanon, that's wonderful!" Maka cheered, clapping. Patti began laughing and clapped along with her.

"Okay?" Liz assumed. "If he wants to join, I guess he can…."

"If he's willing to spend time with a Reaper, he must trust us," Kid thought. "Or did Bernkastel talk him into this?"

Blackstar and Soul began laughing. Soul actually fell over, gripping his sides.

"If you want to join," Blackstar said, suddenly serious. "I challenge you to a duel, then. Beats standing around and throwing a ball around. Tsubaki!"

Kanon glanced at Bernkastel and nodded; his face split into a grin. "Of course. I'd love to stretch my blades. I just hope you won't back out like a coward."

"Of course not," Blackstar puffed. "I never mess around."

"Right, then," Kanon said, holding out one of his arms. "Bernkastel."

Bernkastel leaped forward as if she couldn't wait, although her face stayed straight. She took Kanon's hand and he transformed in a teal flash. His weapon form was a black and blue scythe*. Blackstar grinned.

"Let's go, Tsubaki, Enchanted Sword mode."

"Right."

The fight began. Bernkastel was, to no one's surprise, a fair and graceful Meister, but Kanon was more sporting than they thought. He and Bernkastel would think out loud the entire time, ultimately revealing their plans to their opponent, yet Blackstar couldn't get a grip on the fight the way he usually did. Kanon could alternate weapon forms; from scythe to sword et cetera.

"If you flip over him instead of blocking, you can stab him in the back," Kanon leered with an invisible grin.

"Stop telling me what you're gonna do!" Blackstar growled, lunging at them. Just as Kanon commanded, Bernkastel flipped over the sword that was aimed at her chest. "It'll be too easy!"

"Then why can't you hit us?" Bernkastel taunted as she turned on her heel and swung her scythe.

Soul Eater

"Why didn't anyone tell me there was a fight going on?" Stein asked, wheeling over.

"Oh, Professor Stein," Maka greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"Do you ever leave that chair at home?" Soul asked.

"I was out with Marie when we heard shouting," the teacher replied. "Who is it?"

"Blackstar and Kanon," Kid replied, not taking his eyes off of the fight. Stein's eyes brightened at the sight of the mysterious witch scythe.

"I see he's coming out of his shell," he remarked. "That's good; I'm glad you were able to get through to him when he was so sick like that."

"Sick?" Liz asked, turning her head. "What happened?"

"Bernkastel said it was probably some post-Keshen sickness created from madness," Maka replied. "Stein, how do you know about that?"

"Isn't it obvious? Bernkastel came to me for some medication," Stein replied.

"Oh, right," Maka said, turning back to the fight.

"They're pretty good for not seeing each other in a while," Soul commented.

"It's like how Liz and Patti fight," Stein explained. The others looked at him curiously. "They're twins, so they're close. They can sense how the other is feeling, what the other is thinking. This makes them the strongest team of all."

"Kanon, I'm getting tired," Bernkastel complained.

"Do you want to stop?" Kanon asked.

"No," Bernkastel grinned, her eyes glowing a bright teal.

"Oh," Kanon said, his reflection on the blade of the scythe grinning. In a bright flash, he was human again, his Infinite Seals reached toward the sky. Bernkastel entwined her seals with his and the two bonded into one person.

"What?!" Maka cried.

"What?" Patti and Liz said in unison after him.

"Eh?" Stein whispered.

"Huh?" Kid thought.

"Um…" Soul coughed.

"We can form one person," the two witches explained. Both of their voices over layered each other, forming a new voice. "Didn't you know that?"

"So… their not… symmetrical!" Kid cried, gripping his skull and shaking his head.

The new being had fragments of Bernkastel and fragments of Kanon; it had one teal eye and one dark blue eye. The hair was short, slightly longer than Kanon's, and a pin ash of light blue and dark black. The attire was a long Gothic Lolita waistcoat and two different black shoes.

"Well…" Maka muttered. "If it makes you feel better, the hat is symmetrical."

Kid looked up to see the tall pointed hat was bent backwards. Kid sat up, tears welling at the corner of his eyes.

"Yes, yes, finally. Way to go Bernkastel, Kanon!"

"I know, shut up!" the person said. Seals burst out of its back, each several feet long and dripping with pure blue shards. There were four of them.

"Whoa," Blackstar gasped. The Kanon-Bernkastel being sailed forward and slashed at Blackstar and Tsubaki, raising a cloud of dust. The sand blew away to reveal the twins in separate form again. Kanon was staring bored at the two bodies before them, whilst Bernkastel laughed her head off.

"Sis? Do you think we over did it?" Kanon asked.

"Of course not!" Bernkastel laughed. "Ha ha! Take that, Blackstar!"

"I've never seen them so happy before," Maka said.

"It's amazing, right?" Stein asked.

"Huh? What is?" Maka asked, straightening.

"What did you see when they resonated with each other?"

"That was resonating?" Soul asked.

"I… I guess I wasn't looking," Maka admitted sheepishly. "But I guess that explains why their minds link."

"Their soul wavelengths bond beyond my recognition," Stein said. "I'm not even sure if normal witches can do that."

"Hey," Soul called to Bernkastel and Kanon. The witches twisted around blandly. "What the hell was that? You totally overuse the art of surprise."

"Do you NOT know what we look like when we resonate?!" Kanon flamed, sliding towards them ominously.

"Dude, chill out," Soul said, backing up slightly with his hands held up in surrender. "It was just a question and I've never seen you actually fight WITH Bernkastel."

"Punishment time," Bernkastel said, putting her hands together. Blackstar's head shot up.

"Hey, wait a minute!"

"You lost, you have to do it," Bernkastel sneered. "Nii-nii," she looked over her shoulder to Kanon. "What do you think we should make him do?"

"Nii-nii?!" the others gasped.

"I don't know," Kanon said, sliding one hand around Bernkastel's waist and glaring at their defeated rivals. "I take the girl, you take the boy?"

"You disgust me," Bernkastel snarled. Behind them, Maka, Soul, Kid, and Liz shuddered. "And, anyway, you lost, so take us to the ice cream parlor and buy us snacks."

"Wait… seriously?" Blackstar asked.

**Is this the way you like it? **

** *Kanon's scythe form looks like the scythe on the boat in the music video for Bad Apple! You know, the one with the extra curve on the tip?**

** They can bond to become one Omni-gender being called the Majo (Japanese for witch).**


	10. Chapter 10

"Yeah," Bernkastel said. "I'm hungry, so get moving."

"And I was so worried about nothing," Tsubaki sighed, getting to her feet.

"Ice cream? You mind if we come too?" Maka asked.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Soul said. "Do you see how cool I am? I wouldn't be caught at an ice cream shop with a bunch of girly—" His sentence was cut short when Maka chopped him. "Okay, fine…."

"If I may accompany you, I'll split the expenses," Kid offered, holding a hand out to Tsubaki.

"Oh, you don't have to do that, Kid," Tsubaki said. "I have it all covered."

"On second thought…" Tsubaki whispered as she watched Kanon and Bernkastel order their food.

"Well, it is a punishment game," Blackstar said.

"You sure you don't want me to pitch in?" Kid asked. Tsubaki smiled at him nervously.

Kanon's Past; A Team Less Forgotten?

"I can't believe you two can eat that much," Tsubaki breathed. They hadn't only eaten ice cream; they had purchased entire meals worth feeding armies. "Blackstar and I will be lucky if we ever get to eat again."

"You never eat like that at home," Soul said. "Not cool; how selfish can you get?"

"When you have all this power, hunger is the only thing you have to worry about," Kanon informed them. Maka smirked; he sounded just like Bernkastel.

"So, how did you get all that power anyhow?" Kid asked. "I assume from what Bernkastel has told us that you weren't born with this power?"

"We have to succeed it from a witch," Kanon replied. "By either fighting her for it, or having her pass it on to us willingly."

"Which was it?" Tsubaki asked.

"We've fought many witches alone," Bernkastel said. "None of them had had multitudes of slave Furniture to give us, so they were all easy enemies."

Tsubaki and Kid didn't say anything about them not answering their questions; the witches had secrets, that was for sure. They continued chatting over the subject and made their way to Kid's mansion, which was a suitable place for the rest of their get-together. However, Kid was honestly wondering about if Bernkastel and Kanon would play a duet in the music room.

"So, when you resonate, why is it that you become one person?" Blackstar asked. Kanon and Bernkastel stiffened.

"That's none of your business!" Bernkastel shouted, stabbing him in the forehead with an iron stake. Behind her, Kanon laughed calmly.

"Has she done this to you every time you say something stupid?" he asked.

"Yes," Blackstar grumbled, yanking the stake out of his head.

"My apologies," Kanon laughed again. "My sister was always rather trigger-happy compared to me."

"Trigger-happy? Is that how he puts it?"

"As long as you don't forget who saved you and who tried to kill you," Bernkastel warned.

"You know you were only saving them for your own selfish reasons," Kanon countered, making a glass of wine appear out of nowhere. Bernkastel gritted her teeth, drawing another laugh from Kanon.

"Kid, the painting in the hallway is uneven," Bernkastel said. Kid gasped and got to his feet immediately, but Bernkastel put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll take care of it, okay? In return for letting us bond here."

Kid nodded shakily and sat back down. Kanon and Bernkastel made their way upstairs to check the painting, but it was completely straight. Kanon glanced at Bernkastel suspiciously.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" Bernkastel asked innocently.

"Lie and give Kid a heart attack. I bet he thinks you won't get it straight. You know he'll just come back and check on it once we're all gone."

"That's not my concern," Bernkastel said. She pulled Kanon over to the music room. He paused and gasped quietly, his blue eyes clouding over.

"It's…" he thought, unconsciously moving towards the piano. "It's been too long."

He sat down at the piano and began tentatively tapping keys. A beautiful melody began to spread throughout the room. Downstairs, Kid and the others heard the music and began ascending the stairs. When Kanon heard them coming, his shy nature almost took over and he stopped playing. Bernkastel sat to his right and began touching a lighter tune. He smiled at her and began playing again. Together, they were amazing. Neither of them were perfect, but their creative spirits balanced together to play a lovely sound. Kid smiled when he entered the room. They were so symmetrical….

Soul Eater

Kanon continued playing long after his sister fell asleep in his lap. After a few more notes, he paused to look at his audience. They were all sitting on the floor around him, staring at him expectantly.

"So beautiful," Maka whispered, tears trickling from the corner of her eyes.

"Thank you," Kanon replied. He looked down at Bernkastel and began stroking her hair. "I had to teach her after we became witches. She was such a fast learner."

"After you became witches?" Soul asked.

Kanon nodded. "We were born normal witches, but our magic was very weak because we didn't have a teacher. Our parents left us, and we were adopted by our aunt and uncle. Their mansion was even bigger than this one, but Bernkastel wasn't allowed to leave the basement. I had to bring her leftover bread from dinner, that's all they allowed her."

"She was locked in the basement?" Maka asked. "That's terrible."

"They didn't want to teach her. I assume you've realized how clumsy she is?" Kanon continued. "She was like that with magic; insignificant to them. She was always in the dark, waiting for me to visit her at night. And then one day, she stopped moving. Her hair stopped growing, her eyes became white, she wouldn't eat—" He paused to swallow the bile rising in his throat. The thought of his lifeless sister was one of the worst sights that haunted his mind. "The next day, she broke out of the basement. Her hair was lively as if it had a mind of its own, her colors changed to a light teal, and she seemed like we had a chance. She told me that she had contacted an Endless Witch that had pity on us and was willing to give us her power if we did one simple thing."

"What did you do?" Liz asked.

"We killed our stepparents," Kanon replied, narrowing his eyes. The others gasped. "We tore their throats out with our teeth." He laughed quietly. "After that, we were made Endless Witches and the old witch let us reside with her. Her name was Lambda. We were able to live with normal witches, but there was still one problem. When we resonated, we became on omni-gender being with no name. The other witches thought it was strange or something to laugh at. It made us less talkative with others, that's why we're so…."

"Disinterested?" Soul suggested.

"I want to stab you," Kanon thought, a stress mark appearing on his forehead.

"Yeah," Kanon said slowly. "Instead of using our Resonance, we became a weapon pair like most other witches. There aren't many twin Endless witches, so instead of creating an equal pair, most witches just have servant weapons called Furniture. However, the idea of equality defies the idea of rebellion, so we were a stronger pair in each other. After consuming the power and soul of several other witches, we were separated."

Patti tried to sit still as she clutched Kid's arm tighter. This is where it gets interesting.

"I thought Bernkastel took her share of the power and abandoned me. It destroyed everything I knew. She was the only creature I could trust, and it didn't make sense that she would just leave me. Before I had time to think about it, I was attacked by a gang of witches. Without my Meister, I was pathetic. They took me as their hostage for months, and all I could do was think in silence about my failure. I was trapped in the dark for once. It gave me plenty of time to think about giving into insanity. When you lose your mind, nothing hurts anymore."

Bernkastel tensed in her sleep.

"I killed all of those witches and used their souls to become a Keshen. I was going to find Bernkastel and kill her as slowly as I could. However, once I saw her, I realized how weak I was. I didn't want to kill her, I just wanted her back."

"I can't believe I've doubted you all this time," Maka whispered, looking down. Kanon knelt in front of her and put his hand under her chin, forcing her to look up. He gave her an easy smile and pulled her into a hug.

"You know… I could actually fall for you," he whispered. "Soul, do you mind?"

"Not at all, I had my sights set on Bernkastel anyway—"

"Soul!" Maka whined, pounding him repeatedly with a book.

"Maka, I was kidding, of course I mind! I don't like Bernkastel at all!"

"Soul, how could you say that?" Bernkastel asked, awakening suddenly.

"I… uh…."

"Huh, I always knew you had it for Maka," the little girl sighed. "But that's alright, because if you date me, you also have to date my brother as our Resonance form."

"That's creepy…" Tsubaki said.

**THE WONDERFUL END! This has been a Wolf no Naku Koro ni production. Please stay subscribed to me and watch out for my newer fanfictions! :D Stay classy Nipaa!**


	11. Chapter 11

Kid opened the door to his study, looking forward to some peace and quiet to complete his homework assignment. He was startled, however, when the large room was a complete mess. Books were scattered on the floor, and some were even floating in midair. That's when he realized.

"Bernkastel!"

"Right here, Kid," Bernkastel raised her hand above the cloud of books. Her blue bracelets glittered in the light, and her nails were polished the same blue color with a black and white gothic Lolita design on the faces. Kid sighed and made his way over to her, prepared to shout, but digressed when he saw her. She was flying across the room, pulling books out of the shelves, flipping through them whilst using her speed reading techniques, and when she was finished, dropped the book into the clutter for her magic to put away later.

"Not here, not there either," she muttered as she flew over one of the bookshelves to the next aisle.

"What are you doing?" Kid asked.

"I'm trying to find out why there are only seven days in a week," Bernkastel replied, tossing another book aside.

"Why must you do that?" Kid asked, picking some books out of the clutter and putting them on the proper shelves. "Why can't you just put them away?"

"Can you read an entire library in a day?" Bernkastel asked sarcastically. "Anyway, I'm doing this for you, so deal with it."

"I have homework to do," Kid complained. "And what do you mean you're doing it for me? You've done enough for me."

"Not until I make the number of days symmetrical."

The Eighth Day; Three-Day Weekends Forever?

Maka awoke to the sound of her alarm clock buzzing. She groaned slightly, turning over to turn it off, but got up and stretched compliantly. Today was Monday. School. She was brushing through her long blond hair and tying it up in her traditional pigtails when she glanced at the calendar for any important events.

Wait a minute… one, two, three, four, five, six, seven… eight? Eight days per week on the calendar? That didn't make sense. Maka thought it was a prank that Soul and Blackstar set up, so she didn't think much of it until she and Soul arrived at school. No one was there.

"Darn it, Bernkastel!" Maka screamed as she stormed into the apartment. Bernkastel had been idly lounging on the couch reading one of Blair's magazines.

"I see you're back," she said dismissively.

"We need to talk," Maka said, yanking the magazine out of her hands. "There are seven days in a week, right?"

"Wrong," Bernkastel corrected, taking a sip of sparkling cider. "Seven is an a-symmetrical number. I made it eight."

"Seriously?" Soul interjected. "You can't just go around altering space and time like that."

"Yes, we can, we're Endless Witches, remember? We can do that sort of thing with our pinkies." Burn; take that, Death the Kid.

"So?"

Bernkastel laughed. "Oh, what's your problem with it? You get another day to slack off and hang out with us."

"Where's Kanon?" Maka demanded.

"Why? He doesn't have anything to do with this."

"I know he's the only one who can convince you to turn it back," Maka continued.

"Oh, it's fine for a day," Bernkastel cut in. "We'll reverse the spell at sunset and everything will be back to normal. We're going to the park later to see how Kid likes it."

"You promise you'll turn it back?" Maka inquired. Bernkastel's lively hair twitched, but she nodded.

"Don't get your pigtails in a twist," Kanon said, suddenly appearing behind Maka and wrapping his arms around her. "It'll be fine."

Maka tensed and blushed. This again? Hadn't they established in the last chapter that there wasn't going to be a Maka/Kanon pairing? While Kanon was at it, Blair decided to go for Soul. Bernkastel sighed and rolled her eyes. She was growing bored of their childish love games.

Soul Eater

"The day is perfect!" Kid cried, staring up at the laughing sun. The clouds were symmetrical, too! The group of nine had all gathered at the park to hang out. Kanon and Bernkastel stood arm-in-arm like a pair of Siamese twins.

"Ugh," Kanon scoffed, waving his fingers in the air. The sky above the park became overcast with grey and black clouds. It began to rain heavily, drenching them all.

"Hate sunlight," Bernkastel complained, putting a blue pair of sunglasses on. "It hurts my eyes."

"Then why are you putting sunglasses on?!" Soul demanded. "The least you could do is make the rain warmer for us. Or better yet, an UMBRE—"

"Acid rain it is," the twins said in unison. As they predicted, scorching hot water began pouring down in torrents. The group commenced their screaming and scattering under trees and other forms of shelter.

Bernkastel whimpered and scratched at her arm where a few of the scalding drops rolled down her exposed skin. Kanon noticed this and drew away slightly.

"Darling, you're getting wet," he said, examining the drops of water on her delicate pale skin. With pure magic only, he fabricated a black and white umbrella out of cobalt blue flecks. Bernkastel smiled and stood under the umbrella that Kanon held for her before turning to glare meaningfully at Soul.

"You gotta be kidding me," Soul thought. "She's doing this so I'd be romantic with her?"

"I think this has gotten a bit out of hand," Liz said.

"Hey, Bernkastel!" Patti shouted. "Why don't you give us some of those magic umbrellas?!"

"Why?" she asked. "You seem to be holding up under that tree."

"Please?" Liz added, finding she also had to yell to be heard over the pouring rain.

A little before Sunset

"I wonder what Lord Death wants with us," Bernkastel asked as she and Kanon made their way down the pathway to the Death Room.

"I don't know," Kanon whispered. Bernkastel looked at her slightly older twin brother curiously. He was paler than usual, and he was staring ahead. Of course, ever since he was young, he'd had a fear of death.

"It'll be fine," Bernkastel encouraged him. "Lord Death is a nice person. He wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

Her statement was both countered and twisted later.

"Lord Death, you wanted to see us?" Bernkastel asked.

"Oh, yes, Kanon, Bernkastel," Lord Death greeted. "About that…."

Double Reaper Chop!

"Why did he _do_ that?" Bernkastel thought desperately.

"Bernkastel, you liar!" Kanon thought, twitching at the irony.

"Now, you two have some explaining to do," Lord Death said angrily. "What possessed you two to create another day?"

"Well," Bernkastel began. "Kid got all upset about my hat again and then I thought he might be upset when he realizes that the number of days in the week isn't symmetrical, so we added a day."

"You can't just alter time and space on a whim like that," Lord Death disagreed. "Just because you're Endless Witches doesn't make it acceptable. Even if you reverse everything that happened today to prevent scars in the time-space continuum, it's not right to screw everything up as you please."

"Really?" Bernkastel put her head down. The side of her mouth curled up in a witty grin. "Maybe you'd like to continue teaching us how to use our powers for good and not evil, then."

"What are you getting at?" Lord Death asked slowly. Bernkastel looked up at him with the sly expression still written on her face.

"I would like to submit Kanon and myself to attend your academy," she replied.

"Oh… I see how it is," Lord Death agreed. "But you didn't have to modify time itself to talk to me about it."

"In fact," the room turned red as she continued talking. "Everything I told you about pleasing Kid was completely true."

"Why do you keep humoring him like this?" Lord Death inquired. "You don't have to keep being nice to him just because you want things."

"He reminds me of Kanon," Bernkastel admitted.

"I can see the resemblance," the Grim Reaper looked at Kanon, who seemed to be in his own world. The witch did have a similar appearance to Death the Kid. "Honestly, I only gave Kanon a chance because he reminded me of Kiddo. Just a little."

"Well then," Bernkastel said. "We'll be present on time tomorrow. Eight o'clock, right?"

CHOP!

"Right, seven," Bernkastel sobbed.

"Settle down, class," Stein said. "We have a very interesting pair of students joining us today."

"Who could it be?" Kid wondered. "As long as they're symmetrical."

"How could I not know about this?" Blackstar thought. "I should kill them the first chance I get."

Stein continued without missing a beat. "These are Endless Witches Bernkastel and Kanon. Bernkastel, as meister, please introduce yourself and your partner."

Bernkastel stepped forward with a nod. "As witches, I know it may be edgy having us as classmates, but we'll try our best to be good students here."

"I'm…" Kanon mumbled, looking at Death's minions with a horrified expression. "I'm too socially awkward for this!"

"What the heck are they doing here?" Soul asked, practically climbing over the desk to get a better look at the two. He glanced at Maka, who almost snapped her pencil in half in frustration.

"I'll kill her," Maka snarled.

** Hiya, Luckies! I missed you all so much, so I decided to post an extra chapter! Yay, Kira-ness! Review~Nanodesu! :3**


	12. Chapter 12

Bernkastel let her eyes roam the class. That's odd; she thought they'd be a bit more excited to have a witch in their class. Right now, everyone was staring ahead with shocked faces. A random student broke the silence.

"Um… Professor Stein? You know they're witches, right?"

"Yes, I am aware of that."

"And um… they're endless witches, right?"

"Yes, I'm aware of that as well."

"And… uh… he almost became a Kishin, right?"

"So it would seem," Professor Stein began twisting the screw in his head.

"And you're okay with that?!"

"Of course," Stein put his hand out to gesture to the witches. "Bernkastel, as meister and representative for this team, used the Red Truth to vow her loyalty to the academy. Her word is absolute."

Bernkastel's First Mission; The Secret To Magic?

Bernkastel and Kanon, as well as select three-star meisters, were put in charge of handling the missions considering witch Kishin. Bernkastel and Kanon both have fought witches in the past, mainly to acquire their power, but this would be their first mission. They were going to Italy, to a small island. It was cloudy, but if necessary, they would use their magic to withhold the storm until they left.

"It's kind of pretty here," Kanon noted as they landed their broomsticks on a cliff above a grand beach. It was empty, as if no one inhabited the island. "Should we go sight-seeing after killing the witch?"

"You know we can just come back any time we want," Bernkastel said. "Why living in the moment?"

"I don't know," Kanon shrugged. "I guess I kind of want to fit in with humans now that we're attending the academy. Just a little."

Bernkastel laughed once. "Do as you wish, Kanon, and I may follow if the idea pleases me."

Kanon nodded and they continued their search for the witch. After a while, Bernkastel sensed something. Although she lacked Maka's soul-perceiving abilities, she had a different sixth sense of her own.

"She's close," she said. "Kanon, transform."

"Got it," Kanon nodded and did as he was told, turning into a blue and black scythe.

"Show yourself, witch," Bernkastel taunted.

"My, if it isn't the Endless Bad Apple that doesn't fall far from the tree," a voice sneered. A witch with black hair and a purple dress floated above the trees on a broom. "Sent from the academy, no doubt."

"Time to monologue," Bernkastel thought.

"Witch Victoria," she began. "You've used magic selfishly; hence your soul has become a Kishin egg. You must be eliminated."

"What is she doing?" Kanon thought. "She's wasting valuable time that we could be attacking."

"You're the one who wanted to blend in," Bernkastel thought to him.

"Not like this!"

"Enough chatter," Bernkastel shouted, lunging at the figure.

Just one swing of her scythe, and this witch would be hers. Bernkastel felt victory near when a stabbing pain hit her chest. She looked down, falling to her feet on the ground, to realize that a purple dagger was lodged into her chest.

"What? How did that get there?" she gasped.

The stake quivered, quickly ripping its way through her chest. Another dagger flew towards her at alarming speed, shooting through her heart as if she was just a piece of paper. She was stabbed several more times before she finally had the chance to collapse.

Soul Eater

It was late, and Kid was in his room reading. He was almost to the climax, and he thought nothing could tear him away from that book. However, he proved himself wrong when a scream echoed throughout the mansion.

"Kid! Sis, come quick!"

Kid threw the book down and rushed out into the hallway when he heard Patti's scream. He found her across the hallway by a small table. A shattered vase was a few feet away from her. Kid stared at the vase in disbelief. There was no way that Patti could have done that; it was broken in the same way that Bernkastel broke it a few days ago. The witch fixed it, of course, but… her spells didn't wear off like that, did they?

"Patti, are you sure you didn't drop it?" Liz asked her trembling sister.

"No, it just broke! It was like someone hit it or something…."

"That's the same vase Bernkastel broke," Kid said. "Her spells don't wear off like that. If the vase is broken again, then that means—"

He didn't finish his sentence. He suddenly felt very dizzy and collapsed to his hands and knees. Liz rushed forward immediately, kneeling beside him.

"Kid, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I-I don't know," Kid whispered. "I don't feel so good."

He began coughing forcefully until a small clump of black, ink-like blood dislodged itself from his throat. Liz stared in horror at it as it began to writhe and twitch. She couldn't believe something so repulsive had come from her meister. She soon saw what it was as it took its form as a small, dying snake.

"Medusa's venom," she gasped. "It's reactivated somehow!"

"Something must have happened to Bernkastel," Kid thought. Small bite-marks began appearing on his arms and neck, and he fell to the floor. It hurt so much that he let out a scream.

"Bernkastel!" Kanon cried, kneeling beside his fallen meister. "Bernkastel!"

"Kanon, I'm alright," she mumbled, rising to her hands and knees.

"You're persistent," the witch said to Bernkastel. "Why aren't you dead yet? You act as if you have something to live for."

"You filthy monster," Bernkastel spat. "You have no idea what I live for, nor what true magic is. That is the only reason I joined forces with the academy!"

Kanon stared at his meister in amazement. This was the first monologue she's done tonight that actually made sense. It didn't waste time.

"I came here to prove that witches aren't as corrupted as Lord Death thinks," Bernkastel continued. "I didn't come here to trick him, or to be selfish. I came here to prove that magic exists to make people happy! If you don't follow this principle, then you don't deserve to be a witch."

"Ha! Aren't you old-fashioned?" Victoria laughed. She watched as Bernkastel tried to get to her feet. "Still trying? My daggers went through your heart multiple times; give it up."

"I won't!" Bernkastel yelled. Kanon was shocked to see glistening tears sliding down her face. "I can't die now. I refuse! I'm also here to prove that I don't need magic to make people happy. I'll do it on my own!"

"Huh?" Victoria stared at her with wide eyes. Never in her years had she ever heard such a statement from a witch.

"I know I seem fickle and selfish," Bernkastel whispered quietly, more tears rolling down her face. "And most of the time, I don't really know what I want. But hear this—" she looked up. "—I want to live now, because if I don't, someone very close to me is going to die."

"Kid," Kanon realized. "That's right, the venom in his system would have remained active for all eternity had it not been for Bernkastel. Small cuts would have healed by now anyway, so those won't be a problem, but still. Can his reaper powers overcome the venom?"

"Get ready!" Bernkastel shouted at her partner.

"Right."

"Let's go Soul Resonance!"

Their bodies, minds, and souls became one. Bernkastel acquired Kanon's strength, just as Kanon acquired Bernkastel's scars. They rose and four wings—their Infinite Seals—appeared in a collage of blue and teal flecks.

"Ah, the Bad Apple itself," Victoria sighed. "It's been a good life. See you in the next life, Bernkastel and Kanon."

The wings shot forward, slicing her into four perfect pieces. Kid would be proud. Victoria's soul was left floating in midair. Kanon took it uncertainly.

"I've never eaten a soul before," he thought. "Do you think they taste good?"

"Soul says it's how it feels when you eat it that's good," Bernkastel shrugged. Kanon turned back to the soul and took a bite out of it as if it was an apple.

"Of course, he'd never know what a witch's soul tastes like, right?"

"Kanon," Bernkastel reproached. The other laughed.

They hurried to the academy as fast as they could. Bernkastel had to see if Kid was okay. They rushed to the infirmary, where Stein was waiting for them.

"Bernkastel, Kanon," he looked up when he saw them coming. "You're back. Something went wrong on the mission, I take it?"

"Stabbed," Bernkastel nodded quickly. "Took care of it. Did something happen to Kid?"

"Yes, the venom in his body reactivated. He would have died had his weapons not been right there with him when it happened."

"I thought he was immune to poison?" Kanon said.

"Most poison," Stein nodded. "His special healing powers can dissolve any normal poison before it takes any effect on him. Medusa's snakes, however, use enchanted venom that is a challenge for his body."

"How is he now?" Bernkastel asked.

"He's alive, but it's a slim chance that he'll make it on his own," Stein replied in a serious tone. "I've given him all the anti-venom I can, but his body just isn't accepting it. He's trying to heal on his own. He's resting now; his body shut down to conserve energy, similar to a coma. I'm sure he'll wake up if you visit him."

"Can I?" Bernkastel asked. She was begging, similar to when she saved Kanon. Stein nodded, and Bernkastel didn't hesitate to run into the infirmary.

"I-it's amazing," Kanon said quietly. "I've never seen her value a human life so much before. We were always taught as kids that magic was created to make people happy, but she's strived to make him happy. Today on our mission, she said she wanted to prove Lord Death wrong about all witches being bad, but that's not all, is it? There's something between the witch and the reaper that could never exist before."

"Indeed," Stein agreed. "I think there's something between all of us that couldn't exist before."

Kid felt Bernkastel enter the room. At last, his savior was here to relieve him of all this pain. He was waiting for the warmth and comfort of her magic, but none came. She sat down next to the bed and wrapped his hand in hers. He opened his eyes warily.

"Bernkastel?" he asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

"I got hurt on the mission," Bernkastel explained. "I'm sorry to cause this much trouble for you. How do you feel?"

"It hurts," Kid whispered. "Can you help? Please?"

Bernkastel smiled sympathetically. "No."

"What do you mean?!" Kid gasped, sitting upright immediately. The sudden movement cause pain to flare within him, but he ignored it. "Why not? You're an endless witch—you have all the power imaginable!"

"It's not that I don't have the power, it's that I don't have the will," she explained quietly. "Witches are still out for me and Kanon—they want our power. If this ever happens again, or if the witches gain our power, the venom will reactivate stronger than before. However, if you can heal yourself without the assistance of magic, then the venom will truly disappear, not just go dormant. Please understand."

"But Bernkastel…." He felt sick. He realized he didn't have a valid argument. He was scared; he knew he was overestimating his powers. What if he couldn't heal himself? What if he didn't live?

"I think it's best for you to face your own demons on your own this time," Bernkastel said gravely. Her tone lightened. "But I will read to you, if that makes you feel better."

"What?" Kid stared at her in disbelief. Seriously?

"Oh, come on," Bernkastel said in a cheerful tone. "I got the coolest book ever from the witch library and I'm sure you'll love it."

"Witch library?! God, Bernkastel, how did you even get that in here? It's forbidden for students of the academy to read that stuff."

"Because you're human," Bernkastel said. "I'm a witch, so I can read it, right?"

"But you—I—just—" again, his argument was invalid. He sighed and lied back on the bed. "Fine. What is it?"

"It's called 'The Wolf that Fell in Love with Red Riding Hood.'"

"Really?" Kid asked. "Well, at least it sounds interesting."

"This was my favorite story as a kid," Bernkastel sighed, fond of the memories. "It was written by an old mage that felt the same way I do."

Kid's perspective shifted. That's why she wanted to read to him. He smiled at her.

"It's okay that you're a witch, Bernkastel," he said. "We've been through this before. You're a good witch with pure intentions."

Bernkastel smiled. That's all she wanted in return; for him to acknowledge her as a good witch, even if it was only one more time.


End file.
